You're afraid of Bud because you can't figure out how to play him. He doesn't follow the same rules of politics as you do. It makes him dangerous.

It would be easier for you if there was an angle wouldn't it? You're afraid of Bud because you can't figure out how to play him. He doesn't follow the same rules of politics as you do. It makes him dangerous. I see Bud because I want to I see Bud because he can't hide the good inside of him. I see Bud because he makes me feel like Lynn Bracken and not some Veronica Lake look-alike who fucks for money. I see Bud because he doesn't know how to disguise who he is. I see Bud for all the ways he's different from you.

[Bud White catches a parolee beating his wife up. He lures the man out by pulling his Santa's sleigh decorations off the roof]

Wife-beater: Who in the hell are you?!

Wendell "Bud" White: Ghost of Christmas Past. Why don't you dance with a man for a change?

Wife-beater: What are you, some kind of smart ass?

[tries to throw a punch at Bud. Bud beats him and handcuffs him to his porch]

Wendell "Bud" White: You'll be out in a year and a half. I'll get cozy with your parole officer. You touch her again, I'll have you violated on a kiddie raper beef. [grabs wife beater by the head] You know what they do to kiddie-rapers in Quentin.

Capt. Dudley Smith: Would you be willing to plant corroborative evidence on a suspect you knew to be guilty, in order to ensure an indictment?

Sgt. Ed Exley: Dudley, we've been over this.

Capt. Dudley Smith: Yes or no, Edmund?

Sgt. Ed Exley: No.

Capt. Dudley Smith: Would you be willing to beat a confession out of a suspect you knew to be guilty?

Sgt. Ed Exley: No.

Capt. Dudley Smith: Would you be willing to shoot a hardened criminal in the back, in order to offset the chance that some...lawyer...

Sgt. Ed Exley: No.

Capt. Dudley Smith: Then, for the love of God, don't be a detective. Stick to assignments where you don't have to make those kinds of choices.

[Bud goes to question Lynn Bracken and encounters a client in his underwear who refuses to leave]

Man: Everything all right, doll? Want me to get rid of him?

Bud: Hit the road, pal.

Man: [stepping closer] Maybe I will. Maybe I won't.

Bud: [showing his badge] LAPD, shitbird. Get the fuck outta here or I'll call your wife to come get you.

[The man stares blankly for a moment, collects his clothes, and leaves]

Man: [nods] Officer.

Bud: [nods] Councilman.

[Lying in bed, Lynn notices a scar on Bud's shoulder]

Lynn: Where'd this come from?

Bud: When I was twelve, my old man went after my mother with a bottle. I got in the way.

Lynn: So you saved her.

Bud: Not for long.

Lynn: I'm sorry, it's none of my business.

Bud: He tied me to the radiator. I watched him beat my mother to death with a tire iron. And he left me there. Three days before a truant officer found us. They never found the old man.

Jack: Why in the world do you want to go digging any deeper into the Nite Owl Killings, Lieutenant?

Ed: Rollo Tomasi.

Jack: Is there more to that, or am I supposed to guess?

Ed: Rollo… was a purse snatcher. My father ran into him off duty, and he shot my father six times and got away clean. No one even knew who he was. I just made the name up to give him some personality. Rollo Tomasi's the reason I became a cop. I wanted to catch the guys who thought they could get away with it. It was supposed to be about justice. Then somewhere along the way I lost sight of that. Why'd you become a cop?

Jack:[long pause] I don't remember.

[Bud has just found Buzz Meeks's decaying remains in Hilda Lefferts' crawl space. He is visibly disgusted as he climbs out.]